


A Mer's Word

by PatientIsTheNight



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Dad!Teldryn, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jenassa is also Tiny (16/17 ish), Jenassa is an Arano and escaping Morrowind, Teldryn Sero is the patron dad of people with shitty fathers, crossposted from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 22:45:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18375605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatientIsTheNight/pseuds/PatientIsTheNight
Summary: During their escape from Blacklight to Solstheim, Jenassa asks Teldryn a favor he doesn't think he can follow.





	A Mer's Word

**Author's Note:**

> First AO3 work ayyy
> 
> This is based on a lengthy headcanon from my TES blog, below. In short, Jenassa is the Aranos' daughter whose relationship with her parents has completely fallen apart, driving her to hire a sellsword to smuggle her out of Morrowind.
> 
> https://sidequestsidebitch.tumblr.com/post/183802928036/teldryn-sero-is-a-sellsword-in-blacklight-and-a

“Teldryn? Are you awake?”

Teldryn hummed without opening his eyes, hoping she'd take the hint and leave him alone. He'd managed to secure passage for him and the Arano girl on a cargo ship heading to Solstheim, though “passage” was a generous way to describe it. They were crammed down in the hold with barely enough room to lay down, but at least they’d be in Raven Rock in a day’s time.

From there, he could get her out of Morrowind entirely and wash his hands of her and this thrice-damned job. But first, they had to get there.

He heard Jenassa shuffle to sit up, and he groaned before cracking open his eyes. “What is it?” He grumbled. He was tired, damn it, and sore and ready for a night’s sleep.

The flickering light from their lantern cast shadows over Jenassa’s face as she chewed her lip anxiously. “I need to ask you a favor.” She said softly, and he laughed shortly.

“This entire expedition is a favor, girl.” He laughed, and she glared at him before kicking him. Still a little girl, no matter how she blustered.

“I’m serious. I need to ask you something.”

He groaned again before he sat up to face her, running a hand over his face. “Alright, kid, what is it? Need a bedtime story?”

She huffed and rolled her eyes, but something in her face was… troubling. Afraid. _She should be afraid._ He told himself, but another part was concerned at how uncharacteristically serious she looked. “It’d be foolish to think that my father won’t come after me again.” She said slowly, starting to pick at her nails anxiously. Teldryn fought down the urge to tell her to stop it - he wasn’t her father, let her destroy her hands if she wants. “This is the second time I’ve escaped him. Before you came back for me, he…” She screwed her eyes shut and took a shaky breath. “He told me that he’d keep me locked in a room for the rest of my life if it’d get me to behave. He and Mother were talking about marrying me to someone to get them to ‘break me in’. He won’t take kindly to being defied again.”

Teldryn grunted in response. There wasn’t much to say - Adril’s gross mistreatment of her was unacceptable, yes, but it seemed fairly obvious that he wouldn’t take kindly to his daughter running away for the second time. “What’s your point?”

Jenassa opened her eyes and looked at him with tears welling in her eyes. _Oh, shit._ “If he comes after me, no matter what happens, I will not go back there. If he tries to make me… make sure that I don’t.”

Teldryn shrugged, frowning. “That’s what I’m here for, girl, I-“

“You don’t _understand._ ” She hissed. She grabbed his hand and dragged it to her throat as the tears spilled down her face and his eyes widened in shock. “You _make sure_ that they don’t take me alive.”

_Ah, shit._

He snatched his hand back from her. “I’m not going to _kill you,_ are you out of your _mind?!_ ”

“ _Please._ ” Her voice cracked as her breath started to hitch with sobs. “I’m so tired of living like this. I just want to be free, and if I can’t, then what’s the point in living?” Her shoulders bowed as she started sobbing in earnest, burying her face in her hands. He just stared at her - it made him sound like a damn poet, but he could feel the pain and terror radiating from her. “Please, please just-“

Ah, sod it.

“Hey.” He reached over and dragged her across the distance and into his arms. She crumpled in on herself as he pulled her into his lap, holding her to him as tightly as he could manage. He didn’t say anything, just let her cry into his chest and whisper _please, please, please_ over and over again. He tightened his grip on her, his vision going red around the edges as he tried to swallow down his anger. Sure, the girl was a pain in the ass, but she was just a child.

A child begging a sellsword to kill her because it was better than facing her father. What kind of man put that sort of fear into his daughter? What kind of man _reveled_ in it, as long as she played the part he wanted?

He hadn’t been this angry in a long time. He’d love nothing more than to break Adril’s smug shit-eating face in with his bare hands.

Jenassa’s breathing started to even out, and her fingers slowly relaxed their grip on his shirt. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled, her voice still thick.

Teldryn sighed and smoothed her hair back from her forehead, resting his chin on top of her head. “I’m not going to kill you, but I’ll be damned if he ever touches a hair on your head again.” He growled.

He felt her frown in confusion against his chest. “Ser-“

“You listen here. I’m getting you out of here if it’s over my dead body, and that’s a promise.” He sighed and leaned back against the wall, staring at the lantern swinging from the rafters. “You’re gonna be alright. Take this old mer's word for it.”

She sniffled again and nestled closer. “Thank you.” She whispered.

They sat in silence for a long while until Teldryn realized that she’d fallen asleep. He didn’t want to wake her, so he reached out and dragged one of the blankets to cover both of them and settled in as comfortably as he could. “Hope I make a good pillow.” He grumbled absently, but his mind was still racing.

She was right. The Aranos weren’t a great house, but nothing to scoff at. And with allies like theirs, they could very well prove dangerous to both of them. He’d probably never work in Blacklight again - which suited him well enough, he needed a change in scenery. But his mind kept going back to the sneer on Adril’s face as he looked down at his daughter, kneeling on the ground. The crack as he hit her, the venom in his voice.

_How dare you do this to our family? Have you forgotten your place?_

Teldryn laughed shortly and closed his eyes as Jenassa shifted in her sleep, somehow still curling into him even more. _You aren’t the only one with friends in the right places, you bile-mouthed bastard._ He thought as he settled into sleep.


End file.
